500 Days of Bailey
by Xavier2Sxc
Summary: I'm Cody Martin, and this is my story. It won't be nice, but I have to get it down. This is about the light of my life, as well as the bane of it. That girl, Bailey Picket. The girl that threw my life into turmoil. The girl I love...
1. Chapter 1

I remember when I had first met her.

The real her, not the guy she disguised herself as. Bailey Pickett. The love of my life. She was amazing. Smart. Funny. Beautiful. Perfect. I'd never been in love, but she changed all that. I was only alive when she was around, and when she wasn't she was all I could think of.

Of course Zack was interested in her too. He'll hit on anything with long hair and a pulse. I admire his enthusiasm, I do. But he's so shallow. He lost interest as soon as he learned about her 'baggage'. If he wasn't my brother I'd just want to hit him sometimes. He was willing to abandon Bailey for an easier option so he wouldn't have to do any work on the relationship.

But while he went after random girls who happened to look pretty that day, hoping for some quick action, I couldn't. I was hopelessly in love with Bailey, and nothing was going to stop me from being with her. If I could do that, I said, I'd die a happy man. And I really thought I was going to die a happy man, but I guess the world has other plans. Always does. Always conspiring against me. Holding me back, cut off from all that I love. From her.

You should know now, this isn't an everyday love story. The "boy meets girl, they fall in love and live happily ever after" dynamic doesn't exist in my life. Nothing is simple. Life is just one proverbial slap in the face after another, and just when you think life is handing you one, you remember the old saying "one hand giveth, the other taketh away". And sure enough, it comes true. Never fails.

I guess Benjamin Franklin was wrong. He once said "Of two things you can be certain; death and taxes." But he was wrong. Very wrong. There are four things. Death, taxes, heartbreak and betrayal.

I'm Cody Martin, and this is my story. It won't be nice, and it'll probably be as emotional and difficult to read as it is to write. Like I said, this isn't a "boy meets girl, they fall in love" story. So don't get your hopes up about it like I did. Trust me, you'll be disappointed.

Oh, and a word of advice? Have a tissue ready for this one. It's a story I like to call:

500 Days of Bailey


	2. Chapter 2

Day One

The first time I met Bailey, she was a guy. Zack had suggested that him and me switch roommates, and I was just glad to get rid of Woody. He was more the kind of guy Zack would like to room with, because Zack is gross. So I had the feeling he and Woody would get along fine. I didn't really have anything for or against Bailey, but "he" was smart and the sort of guy I could actually enjoy getting along with, much more so than Woody whom within a few minutes of me meeting him had practically gassed me to death with his habit of farting classic rock songs.

"Woody," I said, walking into our room to find him chewing his fingernails. I put that bad habit out of mind for a while

"Yeah Coholy?" Woody asked.

"It's Cody," I correct, wondering how long it would take him to get my name right "and I've got something to ask you."

"Go for it."

"You like Zack right?"

"Yeah," Woody exclaimed "the guy's a total riot."

"If you say so," I muttered "so me and him have an idea. You could room with Zack instead of me. What do you say?" Woody pondered the idea for a while. I could actually hear the hamster going running a mile-a-minute on the wheel in his brain. Not to say that Woody's stupid, but he's certainly not the sharpest crayon in the box.

"Okay, I'm up for it!" he said after a while with a wide smile.

"Great!" I said and immediately rushed out of the room. I just wanted to get Woody out of the room as soon as possible. Might seem rude but I didn't see how I'd be able to survive the year with him.

"Okay Zack, Woody's willing to…why are you guys holding hands?" I had walked in and Zack and Bailey were holding hands. I never really get surprised by anything Zack does now, I've gotten to know him so well, but this was a total shock.

"Ermm…secret handshake," Zack said nervously and he and Bailey cobbled together some random assortments of different handshakes. It was just painfully obvious that they were making it up on the spot, but Zack was so committed to the charade that I didn't bother calling him on it.

"Oh, by the way, I'm not switching roommates," Zack said suddenly, forcing me backwards into the hallway and slamming the door in my face. Now I love Zack. I pretty much have to love him. But sometimes – well, most of the time – he can be so annoying. This was one of those times. As I prepared myself for the assault on my senses that Woody was bound to unleash when I went back into the room I kept thinking this over. Zack had been totally ready to switch roommates with me, then I found him and Bailey holding hands and he refused to switch with Woody. All of this led immediately to a very obvious conclusion, but I didn't quite want to think that.

With a sigh I braced myself and went back into the room with Woody.

My…suspicions…about Zack and Bailey were becoming harder and harder to ignore. That afternoon we all went to the ship's game room, and when Bailey was having a bit of difficulty with playing pool, Zack wasted no time in getting up behind "him" and guiding "his" hands into the proper place on the cue and helping "him" with "his" aim.

"What are you guys doing?" I couldn't help but ask. I mean what would you do if you're brother was being oddly flirty with a guy, acting as if she was a girl. Then I tacked on to a theory. Bailey was a girl! Almost as soon as I thought it I realised how stupid it was. Sure, looking at him he looked moderately feminine, but a lot of guys have very gently, feminine features. Jumping to conclusions was never a good thing to do, so I put that thought out of my mind. How wrong I was.

Woody left the game room after complaining that me and him don't get along as well as Zack and Bailey do, which considering how Zack and Bailey were acting was a disturbing thought in and of itself. So much so that I had to suppress a shudder. London arrived, complaining about the "stupid sea school". God knows I would have been annoyed if I hadn't known London since I was 12. I was well used to her habit of endlessly complaining when something doesn't go her way.

Me, London, Zack and Bailey ended up missing an announcement of the ship's sinking drill, so we all thought it was a real emergency. Naturally chaos ensued, as it always did with my life, especially when Zack in involved. I still don't know how but we always end up getting into ridiculous situations. I think Zack just has a natural curse on him that causes chaos to develop in his wake, and, lucky me, I always end up getting swept up by it. I'm not without my moments, but I'm more responsible and try to avoid getting in trouble, whereas Zack seems to thrive on it.

So anyway, after a mad dash through the ship to life jackets (with London complaining that she'd have to change her outfit because the life jacket was orange – typical London) we all ended up soaking wet in the hot tub with every other student looking at us wondering what the hell was wrong with us.

I will always remember that day. Not because of the sheer embarrassment that it causes. And not because of the discomfort of being fully clothed in a hot tub, with a life jacket and 3 other people. No, I'll remember that day because that's when I found out Bailey was actually a girl after all.

"Here's your hat dude," I said, noting that Bailey's hat had come off in the process of us all flying randomly into the tub, but when handing it to her, her long, gorgeous hair was the tip-off that she was a girl.

"Oh my god you're a girl," I said, sounding ridiculously shocked at the revelation. I had mostly said it just to confirm it to myself. I still couldn't believe it. I could get my heard round her being a girl, yes. I just couldn't believe how well she'd passed herself off as a guy. And in that wet, uncomfortable moment, her and Zack's interaction made sense. He knew she was a girl!

About an hour later and after getting (mostly) dried off all four of us were sat there the juice bar, wrapped in towels, with Miss Tutweiller scolding Bailey about lying on her application. Seeing Bailey look so sad and crestfallen really did something to me. I was overcome with a desire to help her. She needed someone's help at this time, but before I could step in on her behalf, Zack truly surprised me by doing so.

I have to admit, despite my surprise at Zack actually doing something decent for someone else out of selflessness, he did a better job than I could have. He obviously knew the whole story, of how the girl's spots for the semester had been filled, and about how Bailey had applied as a guy to get away from her small Kansas town. I felt sorry for her deep down. The extent of the story I knew up until that point is that Bailey had applied for Seven Seas High as a guy. That was the reach of my knowledge.

I had never, at that point, been happier than when it was revealed that Bailey could stay on the ship. I didn't want her to leave. I wanted to spend time with her, get to know her more. Sort of weird since I'd only known her for a day, and only known she was a girl for about an hour. But that's the way life works sometimes.

After London had run off after finding out that Bailey was going to her roommate, Moseby sent us all back to our rooms.

I got back to my room to find Woody there fast asleep; totally oblivious to what had just gone on. I laid myself down on my bed, hands behind my head, staring up at the darkened ceiling. I hadn't noticed how tired the events of my first day of school had made me. 'Hell of a way to start off a new semester' I thought to myself as I slowly drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

_Day Two_

"Dude, wake up," I heard Zack's voice say, bringing me out of my peaceful sleep. I opened my eyes to see him stood over me, a look of genuine concern on his face. That made me a bit worried.

"What's up?" I asked, sitting up in bed, still trying to banish that aura of sleepiness that was hung all over me. I'm not really a morning person, and even though it was still technically night, that groggy, slumped feeling I get in the mornings had already taken hold.

"It's London," Zack said "she's gone." I couldn't believe it. London can be annoying pretty much all the time, but she's still one of my best friends, and I care for her a lot, so hearing she was gone was pretty bad news.

"She's gone?" I asked, hauling myself up from the bed with some difficulty.

"Yeah," Zack said worriedly "she took off in a helicopter for Parrot Island. Moseby wants us up on deck now." Without another word Zack turned and took off in the direction of the Sun Deck. I quickly changed out of my sweater vest into a normal T-shirt and took off after him.

I got up to the Sun Deck a little out of breath. I'm not really the "active" type. I suck at sports. I mean really suck. Disastrously awful. It's very embarrassing. So when I finally got the Sun Deck I was breathing heavily. I looked around, trying to find Zack. I finally spotted him over by the juice bar, talking to Bailey. I felt a little upsurge of jealousy when I saw them together. I couldn't help but feel that it should be me comforting Bailey. I needed something to get in good with Bailey. I spotted a random guy about to drink a smoothie and quickly rushed over to him. I grabbed the drink out of his hand, tossed him a quick "sorry" then went over to join Bailey and Zack. Normally I'm more polite than stealing drinks from strangers, but I was just overcome by this need to impress Bailey.

"Here Bailey," I said as I joined the two of them "this'll cheer you up. I ordered it just for you. It's a seaweed smoothie with a broccoli boost." I knew immediately I'd made a mess of that situation by the look of utter confusion she gave me. That was one of those moments where you just think 'god can I die now?', it was awful.

"We want her to cheer up," Zack commented "not throw up." I resisted the urge to hit him right then.

After an excruciatingly long awkward moment where I distracted myself from my thoughts of 'please let the earth open and swallow me' by listening to Mr. Moseby on the phone to the captain of the ship, the ship suddenly lurched to the side, unbalancing me. I tried to stay upright but it was no good and I toppled backwards, inadvertently sending the contents of the smoothie all over his clean blue suit. Almost immediately Bailey burst out laughing. Oh that sound! I've never heard a more beautiful laugh in all my life. Soon Zack joined in and I quickly followed. All of us were laughing, except Mr. Moseby, which was understandable.

"Told ya my smoothie would cheer her up," I said to Zack through my laughter.

Several hours, one nap, a shower and a change later and all the students were gathered in the lobby of the ship, with Miss Tutweiller taking stock of who was there.

"Okay," she said, looking at the register "everyone's here…except Zack Martin."

"Get used to that," I told her. Zack was always late for stuff. Important stuff mostly.

"Here," he suddenly yelled from behind her, making her jump in surprise "sorry. I overslept."

"We were in biology class," I said.

"Exactly." Me and Bailey both looked at him with matching expressions of confusion. Well, hers was confusion. I'd gotten used to Zack. He slept in school. Always had. I was amazed he'd even been allowed to enrol here.

"Anyway," said Tutweiller "this unscheduled stop to look for London on this tropical island presents us with a unique educational opportunity –"

"We're gonna learn how to surf," Zack interrupted, genuinely sounding like he though that was the right answer.

"Yeah, cowabunga," said Woody, doing an embarrassing mime of surfing "hang eleven!"

"It's hang ten," I corrected him, just lost for any sort of proper words.

"Not when you got eleven toes," he said, and seemed to be very happy with telling us all that, smiling happily as my stomach turned over on itself; that was just the most disgusting thing I had ever heard.

"You've got 6 toes on one foot?" Zack asked.

"No, eight and three," Woody said simply. My stomach lurched again, worse than before and I actually felt physically sick for a moment as me and Bailey crossed over to the other side of the lobby, away from Woody. Even Tutweiller looked to physically disturbed by that unwanted piece of information.

"I meant," she clarified "an opportunity to study the history of the island. Now Parrot Island we colonised –"

"By the British," Bailey cut Tutweiller off "at the tail end of the Age of Exploration." She turned to me with a little smile and I returned it. That one smile of hers filled my whole body with happiness, and even just being near her kept that feeling alive.

"Well, to be more precise –" Tutweiller began, probably just trying to get back in control of the educational information, but this time I cut her off.

"1762," I said "Wednesday, around lunch." I had said it just to try to show off to Bailey in the only way I knew how; by being smart. It seemed to work too, as she smiled at me again.

"Thank you," said Tutweiller and I could tell she was getting annoyed "well, let's take a look at this lush paradise." We went to look out at the island and even from the distance of the ship we could tell it wasn't a "lush paradise". There were almost no trees; it looked more like a barren wasteland. I couldn't help but think that someone should have looked the island over before starting the 'lesson', but that thought was quickly overridden by Woody grossing everyone out once again but telling us, quite against our own will, that he had 'green' between his seventh and eighth toes.

A short while later and we were all on the island. My observations about "barren wasteland" turned out to be pretty true. There was one small town and it was pretty much deserted. Quite depressing really. But you know me, always looking at the positive side of things. Me and Bailey shared a few more laughs as we interrupted Tutweiller's lesson, and then it came time to choose a 'buddy' for the trip. I immediately went over to Bailey and took her arms in mine. Zack did the exact same thing on her other side, and some how I wasn't surprised.

"I call dibs," I said, trying to drag Bailey away from Zack. I shouldn't have been so callous, but that twinge of jealousy I got from seeing Zack and Bailey together on the Sun Deck was back even stronger than before.

"I saw her first," Zack countered, pulling Bailey towards him. I pulled back.

"Guys," Bailey said from between us "I'm not the last slice of pizza!" I immediately felt guilty for trying to be so possessive of her.

"Of course you're not," Zack said, then addressed me "can I talk to you?" We let go of Bailey and he led me a little bit away from the group, his arm over my shoulder and a weird smile fixed on his face.

"Why are you hitting on Bailey?" he asked through the clenched teeth of his fake smile "you have a girlfriend." Oh no! Barbara! I'd been so busy trying to spend time with Bailey I'd forgotten about her. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten her!

"Barbara!" Zack said. Apparently I'd been silent for a while and he thought I'd forgotten her name.

"I remember her name," I said "Look, before we left I told her it might be hard for me to resist the advances of beautiful exotic women from around the world." All of that was true. I had told her that, but she didn't buy any of it and laughed in my face. But now thinking about her again I felt guilty about my feeling for Bailey, and I got a knot in my stomach. I don't know why I was so guilty; nothing was going to happen. It was just a crush. Just a lingering, thought-enveloping crush that I couldn't stop thinking about.

"What'd she say?" Zack asked.

"She laughed," I said "but I took it as a go for it." That last part was a lie. She did laugh but I didn't take it that way. Because I never thought I'd fall for anyone else. Guess I was wrong there; I could tell already things were going to get complicated.

With a shake of his head Zack pushed me away and we went off down a path between two shops. After a short walk we ran into Bailey, who was scribbling something on her notepad.

"Wow, you are just an incredible artist," Zack complimented.

"I was just trying to get my pen to work," Bailey explained with a chuckle, scribbling madly on her notebook again. I leant in towards Zack and put my arm round him.

"Smooth," I whispered, taunting him. Zack pushed me backwards, away from Bailey.

"Didn't you say you have to go to the bathroom?" he demanded.

"I'm not leaving you alone with Bailey," I told him simply "and besides, the bathroom is only half a coconut." I had no desire to do my business in half a coconut, and I knew if I left Zack alone with Bailey he'd step up his flirting as much as possible, and I didn't want that.

"Actually it's more comfortable than it looks," Woody said, arriving in the area folding up a newspaper "and those 2-ply palm leaves? Surprisingly soft." I just looked at him in total confusion. And to think, I used to believe Zack was the weirdest person I'd ever meet.

All of a sudden I heard a snort from somewhere below me and looked down to see a big peeking out of a bush. Bailey immediately rushed towards it.

"Look!" she said happily "where did that little piggy come from?"

"That's what the doctor said when he saw my extra toe," Woody said, and I shuddered and immediately tried to put the image out of my mind.

"Are you stuck?" Bailey asked the pig, squatting down next to it "here I have something for you. You like nuts?" She held out a handful of peanuts to the pig, which greedily ate them all. I was amazed at how kind to animals Bailey was, immediately taking a fondness to a stray pig. It just made me like her even more.

"Oh this rope'll work as a leash," Bailey said, trying a length of spare rope around the pig's neck and leading it out of the hedge "aww, he's so sweet. He reminds me of my-"

"Breakfast?" asked Zack

"Football?" I chimed in. I couldn't help myself.

"Y'all hush up," Bailey said sternly "he reminds me of my pet pig from back on the farm. Sir Snort-a-lot and I were best friends. Then one day I woke up and he wasn't there any more. I got really worried but momma told me he moved to the big city." Zack, Woody and I all knew what had really happened to Sir Snort-a-lot but none of us wanted to tell Bailey. I felt sorry for her. I knew what it was like to lose a beloved pet. I still remember the time I lost Tim my pet rock. It took me get over that.

"I'm gonna call you Porkers," said Bailey to the pig, stroking it "you like that name?" Porkers snorted happily. Suddenly Miss Tutweiller appeared and told us that the boat was leaving in an hour and she still couldn't find Mr. Moseby or London. She ran off to find them and Bailey said that because London running away is partly her fault, she was going to go help search for them.

"Me too," Zack immediately said, grabbing one of Bailey's arms. I still had no desire to leave Zack and Bailey alone together, so I volunteered to go as well, grabbing Bailey's other arm.

"Great," she said, then slid free of our grip "then we'll use the buddy system. You guys go that way, and I'll go this way with Woody." With that she headed off, leaving me and Zack very disappointed.

"She digs the Woodman," Woody said with a cocky smile before strutting off after Bailey.

"Yeah I'm sure that extra toe is a real chick magnet," Zack said, laughing at his own joke. But I really wished people would stop mentioning Woody's deformed feet; I never wanted to think about that ever again for as long as I lived.

"Listen Zack," I said "you need to back off with Bailey."

"I don't think so," Zack protested, as stubborn as always "I think you should."

"No way," I said "I've got more of a shot than you have!"

"How?"

"Bailey's smart. Very smart," I explained "and you're just…you."

"It's not over till it's over," Zack said simply "but right now we've gotta focus on finding Moseby and London."

"Right," I agreed "we need to split up. We'll cover more ground that way." We could leave our argument over Bailey until later when London and Moseby were safe and sound.

"Good thinking," Zack agreed "I'll check around town, you check down at the beach. Right?"

"Good plan," I said "meet back here in half an hour." Zack agreed and I set off at a run down to the beach. I'm not any good at running, but I had to. Time was running out to find London and Moseby, so I had to hurry. It took me about 5 minutes of solid sprinting to get down to the beach, and another 5 to comb all over it, looking for them. I felt physically sick and my legs felt like jelly, but I knew I had to keep going. 20 minutes left and I ran down to the docks to see if anyone had seen them around. No sign of them. With my legs about to collapse under me, I ran anywhere I could think of, even up the mountain. No sign of London or Moseby anywhere. I didn't see Bailey or Woody around either, and with 10 minutes left until the ship was set to leave, I decided to head back to town to meet up with Zack again.

I got back to the meeting place totally out of breath. My chest and legs were killing me and I could barely breath. Zack, meanwhile, was sat in a deck chair, his feet up, eating a lump of cotton candy.

"Oh hey," he said as I arrived, panting heavily with sweat pouring down my forehead "any sign of Moseby or London?"

"No," I panted "I checked the docks, hiked up the mountain, and ran the whole perimeter of the island!" I was getting angry. I had just ran to exhaustion while he was sat there eating candy.

"Well," he said, noticing my look of pure hatred "they're not in the candy store."

"If I had the energy," I said "I would smack you so hard." And I really meant it. The problem with him hitting on Bailey had made me angry at him, but him sitting there doing nothing while I had nearly killed myself was getting close to being the last straw. I heard a loud snort from behind me and turned to see Porkers, Bailey's new pig, stood there.

"Quiet pig," said Zack "we're trying to find Mr. Moseby and London over here."

"Wait a minute," I said, going over to Porkers and kneeling beside him "he was with Bailey. I think he's trying to tell us something." Porkers had been snorting incessantly, and it was only then that I noticed a note taped to his side.

"Nah he just wants me cotton candy," said Zack "get your own, pig!" My god Zack could be greedy sometimes.

"London, Moseby, Bailey and Woody are all locked in jail and we need to rescue them?" I said, reading from the note taped to Porkers.

"Wow!" Zack exclaimed "you speak pig?" That urge to hit him came back again.

"No," I said, taking the note off of Porkers "but I can read English. There's a note taped to him." I showed the note to Zack, and in the distance we heard the foghorn of the ship bellow out over the island.

"Oh dude, the boat leaves in 30 minutes," said Zack sounding worried "we better hurry."

"Come on pig, take us to Bailey," I said to Porkers, at the same time thinking 'I'm insane, I'm talking to a farm animal'. Porkers snorted loudly.

"Oh alright," I agreed, and grabbed Zack's cotton candy, kneeling down and feeding some to Porkers.

"Hey!" Zack protested as I gave the rest of the candy back to him, but he sniffed at it then took another bite. I made sure to save the memory of that as ammo for later and led the way towards the local jail.

5 minutes later we were outside the jail.

"Lift me up," said Zack, meaning for me to lift him so he could see through the cell window.

"Why don't you lift me up?" I countered. I'd just sprinted round the island and I wasn't in the mood to hoist Zack up on my shoulders.

"I was born first!" was Zack's reply

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked.

"Oh just get up here!" Moseby was at the window, looking at us with his usual glare of vague annoyance. With a resigned sigh I ducked under Zack's legs and lifted him up. The pain in my shoulders was instantly almost unbearable. Zack had gotten a lot heavier since the last time I did this.

"Mr. Moseby how did you get up here?" Zack asked.

"I'm standing on Woody," Moseby admitted.

"You could have taken your shoes off," I heard Woody say from inside the cell.

"How did you guys all wind up in there?" asked Zack.

"It's a long story," Moseby said.

"Ugh can we save the chit-chat for later?" I asked, the strain of holding up Zack really taking its toll on my shoulders and my legs. I was gonna collapse at any minute.

"Yeah I'm with Cody on that," I heard Woody agree.

"Look, you have to break us out of here," Moseby said desperately "did you bring the proper tools?"

"No," I strained out "unfortunately the prison breakout store was closed." I heard London say something from inside the cell, but couldn't quite hear it. Probably a complaint or something to do with her outfit.

"Err, Mr. Moseby?" I heard Woody say "if you're just kinda watching at this point, do you think you should get off my back!?" I heard Moseby step down from Woody. Unfortunately Zack didn't get off of me.

"You know," he said "these bars seem a little bit loose. I may be able to get in if only I had a-"

"Crowbar?" I heard a man's voice say from next to us. It was a large man in a Hawaiian shirt and an old-fashioned English policeman's hat. I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it odd. He handed Zack a crowbar.

"Exactly, thanks," Zack said, taking the crowbar from the man without looking at him.

"You're welcome," Zack said, and finally turned to the man.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

"What part of 'rescuering' do you not understand?" London said. If I wasn't so tired I would have corrected her. Zack wasn't on my shoulders any more, which was good. But being in prison sort of put a damper on my relief.

"All of it," said Moseby "it's either 'rescuer' or 'rescuing'."

"Well you're not good at eitherer," said London. I was amazed at how air-headed London could be sometimes.

"Zack," I said "whenever I pictured us in prison, I was always on the other side of the bars saying 'take the plea!'" The foghorn sounded again.

"Oh the ship leaves in ten minutes," Moseby said "Constable Simms, Constable Simms!" Simms entered the office, dressed in yellow and black exercise clothes.

"I am trying to teach a Pilates class," he said, managing to make it sound as if it was normal for him to be doing that, which I suppose, for him, it was, then turned back to the door and yelled out "work from your corgar! Feel the burn!"

"Simms," Moseby said, getting desperate now "if you let us out of here now, I will arrange for Tipton Industries to make full reparations for scaring off the parrots and cutting down the trees."

"That's what your father did?" Bailey asked London "that's terrible." She cared about the environment too. Could there ever be a more perfect girl in the world?

"I know how I'd feel if someone came to Kettlecorn, took all of our corn and left us with just the kettle," Bailey continued, then addressed Simms "no wonder you put us in jail!" Moseby made an impatient squeeking noise to tell Bailey to stop talking.

"Not helping," he said.

"Now if you'll excuse me," said Simms "I have to finish Pilates, perform a root canal and conduct the orchestra for our little theatre production of 'Where, oh where, have our parrots gone?'" Then he turned and swiftly left the room.

"Well that's it," Moseby said "we're all going to die in here." It was odd and quite sad to see Moseby, who was always so determined to make any situation right, acting so resigned to his fate.

"No," Bailey moaned, sounding really sad. Something in my heart rallied me to help her.

"I'll comfort you," I said, standing up from the bench of the cell.

"I'll comfort her first," Zack said and we both rushed over to Bailey as fast as possible. In our rush we ended up slammed up against the bars and Bailey went to sit on the bench.

"Look," I said to Zack quietly "we've got to work this Bailey thing out in a mature and rational way."

"I couldn't agree more," Zack said and I was genuinely surprised by his apparent maturity, "spitting contest!" I was disappointed that he wasn't maturing after all, but I was fresh out of ideas so we both started getting our spit ready.

"Agh no, wait a minute," Moseby said, acting disgusted with us "you're really going to decide who ends up with Bailey by a spitting contest?" I guess he'd overheard us.

"You know what, he's right," Zack said, again seeming to be taking the more mature road, but then shattered the illusion again by turning to Moseby and saying "pick a number between one and ten."

"No, I am not going to participate in your objectification of women," Moseby insisted.

"Seven!"

"How did you know?" Moseby asked but then collected himself "oh okay never mind! Bailey's not looking for a relationship anyway. Still hasn't gotten over her ex boyfriend Moose."

"How do you know this?" I asked, totally surprised that Moseby knew so much, as well as feeling really guilty for being so quick to decide between me and Zack who gets Bailey without ever considering her feelings.

"When you're in the slammer," Moseby said "you get to know somebody."

I shared a quick look of 'what?' with Zack.

"She told me how they shared their first cob of corn together," Moseby said "their first hayride. They were so good together!" He was tearing up on the last sentence and quickly turned away from us, trying to hide his tears.

"She'll all yours dude," Zack said and I had to double-take to see if I'd heard him right.

"Really?" I asked, suspicious of his possible motives "why?"

"She's checkin way too much baggage," Zack explained "and I like a babe with just a carry-on."

"Unlike you," I said "I'm willing to do the work." I acted calm on the outside but something deep inside my chest and my heart was roaring with triumph! Suddenly Porkers ran into the office.

"Porkers!" Bailey exclaimed "we're saved!"

"Why?" asked Moseby "does he have a law degree?" We all moved the cell door.

"Not, but he can get the keys," Bailey explained, then talked to Porkers "okay, go to his desk, open the drawer, get the master keys and bring them here to me."

"Ooh, and bring me a decaffé non-fat latte with extra foam," London interjected and I inwardly cringed at her.

"Bailey," said Moseby "you can't possibly believe this animal understands you." He was proven wrong as Porkers headed straight to Simms's desk.

"The keys are in the drawer on the left," Bailey told Porkers, who snorted something in response.

"Not that drawer," Bailey corrected "the one on the left!" Another snort from Porkers. I didn't know how this could possibly be happening, but I was just glad that it was.

"Not your left, my left," Bailey clarified in response.

"What about my Latte?" London asked and I couldn't hold back a sigh. But my annoyance with her was quickly replaced with curiosity as the sound of coffee being made came from behind the desk.

"Oh forgot the coffee!" yelled Moseby "bring the keys!" Suddenly the cell keys flew towards Bailey from behind the desk and she caught them.

"Nice throw," she commented as he unlocked the door. I pushed it open and we all poured out.

"Okay," I said, hearing the ship's foghorn once again "we have 5 minutes. If we run we can just make it." It was true but I really didn't want to do more running, but I guess needs must, so we all legged it out of the police station.

"My latte!" I heard London say from the door of the police station, but I didn't have time to go back and get her. Luckily Zack did, and we all made our way to the ship as fast as possible.

"Hurry," Moseby said as we neared the ship "we're almost to the ship." I had no desire to stay behind, so I got a move on!

"Hey hey," I heard Bailey call out from behind us "wait wait wait!" Against my judgement I turned back. Zack got there ahead of me, and London appeared shortly afterwards.

"Look at these postcards," Bailey said, examining one.

"Look, you can send postcards from the next port!" Zack said desperately.

"No, I mean, look at how lush and beautiful this island used to be," Bailey said.

"And now it's a dump," London said "let's get out of here." Zack tried to pull Bailey along to the ship but she resisted.

"It's a dump because your father ruined it," Bailey said "you should fix it." I admired her love of nature, but this really wasn't the time for this sort of talk.

"She's right," I agreed with her nonetheless "it's that kind of corporate greed that's destroying the environment."

"Wow," said London, looking at the postcard "this place really did use to be beautiful."

"Yes," said Moseby who had arrived behind me "and we can all my sad about it on the boat." He made waves of his arms to try and shepherd us along, but we weren't going anywhere.

"And now that it's not beautiful," London said with a sad face "Daddy doesn't care anymore. Kind of like with his first four wives." She handed the postcard to Bailey.

"You know, London," I said "if you paid to replant the island maybe the parrots would come back."

"And the islanders would be so grateful they might put your picture on their coin," said Bailey. I had to hand it to her, she was smart. Mentioning money is a sure-fire way to get London to do something.

"Ooh do you really think so?" London asked, giddy with excitement just at the thought "then I could flip myself to decide what shoes to wear!" Suddenly Simms, still dressed in his Pilates clothes but with a whistle and policeman's helmet, appeared from behind us.

"Halt!" he yelled "you're surrounded."

"By just you?" asked Woody, and it was true. It was only him. How he had us 'surrounded' I don't know but he was obviously a bit mentally abnormal, so I guess it's excusable.

"Pretty much," Simms admitted.

"How about I help you replant the trees by writing you a check for ten million dollars?" asked London who had her pink fluffy chequebook out. I still couldn't get my heard around her ability to simply write cheques for massive amounts of money without any repercussions.

"That' d work," Simms said, then took the cheque from her.

"And feel free to use some of that to buy yourself new pants," London said before running for the ship. Typical London. We all followed on.

"Goodbye," I heard Simms shout kindly. Funny how money can make someone completely change.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

"Well this has been a fun-filled two days," I said as me, Zack and Bailey stood on the Sun Deck.

"Tell me about it," said Zack "totally exhausting."

"You didn't do anything!" I said "I ran all over the island while you sat there eating cotton candy!"

"Where'd that candy go anyway?" Zack asked, rummaging through his pockets.

"I think I saw Porkers with it over that way," Bailey said, pointing towards the juice bar.

"Thieving pig!" Zack exclaimed "get back here with my candy!" He ran off in the direction Bailey pointed to.

"Porkers hasn't got his candy has he?" I asked with a smirk.

"Nope," Bailey said, producing the candy from her pocket "I took it. Want some?"

"Sure," I said and she split the cotton candy in half and gave me some "thanks." We each took a bite, me with a big smile on my face.

"Well, I gotta get back to my room before London goes insane with redecorating," Bailey said "I'll see you later Cody."

"Bye," I said and she gave me a quick hug before hurrying off to her room. I stood there for a moment. Bailey had hugged me! My smile got even bigger and I collapsed back into a deck chair.

"Best day ever," I said quietly to myself before closing my eyes and enjoying the sun on the Deck.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Author Note - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_So you may have noticed that these last 2 chapters are basically re-tellings of the episodes "Suite Life sets Sail" and "Parrot Island" from Cody's point of view. I just wanted to do these two as they were on the show because they really introduce Bailey and establish a bit of her relationship with Cody. So from here on out I'll be using my own ideas for the chapters, so they might take longer to be uploaded because I have to think of my ideas. But they'll be more focused on the relationships of the characters rather than the events happening._

_I'm new to actually doing proper writing like this, so don't blame me, and please don't be too harsh in the flames that I am sure to get._

_Oh, and don't worry, there isn't going to be 1 chapter for each day. I don't have the attention span for that. I'll be jumping forward in time quite a lot. Maybe even back in time too if I get an idea for a chapter that doesn't fit in with story advancement, so if I do I'll put that as in the past. So it's not all one chronological story._


	4. Chapter 4

_Day Eight_

It had been just under a week since Bailey hugged me. I had hoped so much that things would have changed between us, but after my afterglow of the hug we were just friends. I was fine with that, despite how I felt about her. I wanted to be her boyfriend more than anything in the world, but I knew that if I tried to rush her I'd end up ruining even our friendship, and that was the last thing in the world that I wanted to happen, so I decided to let things develop naturally. I figured as long as she didn't learn of how I felt about her nothing would go wrong, and if I carried on being nice and sensitive eventually she'd develop feelings for me.

"Hey! Snap out of it!" Zack yelled into my ear, snapping me out my thoughts. I had been leaning on the railing, looking out at the calm ocean, stretching out as far as the eye could see.

"What is it Zack?" I asked irritably.

"Nothing dude," Zack said "but you've been staring at the sea for an hour now without moving. I was just checking you were still alive."

"Thank you so much," I said sarcastically "you're such a kind brother."

"You were thinking about Bailey weren't you?" Zack asked.

"No," I lied. I'd gotten better at lying to people, but Zack was one of the people could always see right through me. He just raised a suspicious eyebrow and I crumbled.

"Okay yes I was," I said, ashamed of myself for being so obsessed with her "I can't get her out of my head Zack!"

"Of course you can't," Zack said "she's a great girl and you're a hopeless wuss. It's only natural."

"Thanks," I said with a voice full of sarcasm, shooting Zack a death glare as he just sat there on one of the deck chairs grinning from ear to ear.

"You should be thanking me," Zack said.

"And why should I be doing that?"

"Because I know how you can get your mind off of Bailey," Zack said.

"How?" I asked desperately. I didn't want to totally get over Bailey, but I was getting a bit annoyed with myself for constantly thinking of her.

"Tomorrow night you are coming on a double date with me," said Zack "it's perfect!"

"Perfect except for one thing," I said "you seem to have forgotten the last time two times you and I went on a double date."

"I haven't forgotten," Zack said "but this time we won't be playing mini golf and you won't be such a sad sack."

"I'm still not sure," I said "what's the girl like?"

"Oh, she's amazing," Zack said "smart, funny, friendly, and very, very cute."

"I meant my girl."

"Oh," said Zack "she's alright I guess."

"What the heck? I'll go," I said "anything to distract myself from Bailey." Almost as if she was on cue to cause me maximum frustration with myself for obsessing over her, Bailey arrived with London in tow.

"Hey guys," she said, sitting herself down between me and Zack "what are we talking about?"

"Me and Cody are going on a double date tomorrow night," Zack explained.

"Ooh sounds fun. Who with?"

"Sarah and her friend Michelle," Zack said "you know them?"

"Oh, oh!" said London "Michelle has really nice shoes!"

"Thanks London," I said slowly "you know how important footwear is when finding a date."

"It is to people who have fashion sense," London said, looking me up and down with a look of…almost disgust.

"Well I'm getting Sarah," Zack said "Cody you can take Michelle."

"Oh you're so generous," I said dryly.

"I know," he replied, clearly oblivious to my dry sarcasm.

"Aw, well you guys have fun," said Bailey "it reminds me of when I fixed Dixie up with Hamish."

"Were they people you knew in Kettlecorn?" I asked.

"No," she said "they were two of the pigs from the farm. You should have seen Hamish in his little bow tie. Just precious."

"Okay," Zack said, clearly confused by that bit of information "moving on. Cody, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Um, sure," I said and he led me away from Bailey and London.

"Dude, if you don't want people to find out about your crush on Bailey, you shouldn't stare at her so much," he said.

"Oh, I was staring?" I said. I guess I had been. I couldn't help it. She was just so beautiful I can't stop myself from staring at her. I know it makes me look like some sort of crazy stalker, but I've never seen anyone more breathtakingly attractive than Bailey. Not even in Zack's magazine collection.

"Yeah, you were," said Zack "you had your mouth open and everything."

"Oh, well that's embarrassing," I said, totally ashamed of myself for being so obvious about my attraction to Bailey.

"Just a bit, yeah," Zack said "but at least Michelle will help you take your mind off of her."

"Yeah, I suppose," I said. I wanted to go on the double date, but for some reason I felt guilty. As if I was cheating on Bailey. Now I can understand a lot of things, but what I really didn't understand is how, by going on date with a girl, I could possibly be cheating on a girl I have a crush on and who has no feelings for me. Sometimes I think I need a very strong slap to the face.

"Dude, you okay?" asked Zack and I snapped back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said "I'm just gonna go back to my room for a while."

"Okay dude," Zack said "see you in a while, okay?" I nodded and while Zack went back over to talk to Bailey and London I headed slowly back to my room. Luckily Woody wasn't there; I needed to be by myself to clear my head. I threw myself down on my bed, gazing up at the ceiling. I closed my eyes and tried to relax myself. But it wouldn't work. My mind was going a mile a minute, and my whole body was just tense. I couldn't relax.

With an annoyed grunt I got up and headed into the bathroom. I turned the shower on, making sure the water was warm, then stripped off and climbed in. Immediately I noticed a difference. The warm, fresh water seemed to remove all of my stress as it flooded over me. The stress being gone was like a weight off of my mind, and I could finally think clearly, all thoughts of Bailey shuffled to the back of my mind, letting me focus on other things. Finally! Freedom of mind without constantly bringing myself back to thinking about Bailey.

I have no idea how long I was in the shower, but eventually I got out, dried off and got dressed again. I went back to my bed, finally able to relax my body and just flake out. After a few minutes of staring absently at the ceiling, I reached into the drawer of my bedside table and pulled out my iPod, turning it on and flicking aimlessly through songs, eventually settling on the song "Put it Behind You" by Keane. I set it to play, slumped my head back onto the pillow and just zoned it. It was nice to finally get some much-needed physical and mental rest. I'd been running myself through a loop to do as well as possible in lessons during the first week. And that, combined with constantly thinking about Bailey had totally run me down. If I hadn't have taken that time to just relax and chill out I would have burnt out in no time.

I really couldn't tell you how long I was lying there listening to music, but at some point, an undetermined amount of time later, there was a knock at my door.

"Come in," I said, not wanting to get up from the bed. I pulled the earphones out of my ears as the door cracked open and Bailey stepped in.

"Hey Cody," she said with that amazing smile of hers.

"Hey Bailey," I said, propping myself up on my elbows "what's up?"

"Nothing much," she said, moving over to sit next to me on the bed. She looked down at me with a warm smile, but there was a light in her eyes, one that I couldn't quite put a name to.

"Then what brings you here?" I asked.

"This," she said and without another word she leaned down, bringing her face closer and closer to mine. I could feel her breath on my face, could smell her perfume, could see deep into her eyes. As she leaned down I lifted myself up off the bed, bringing our faces tantalisingly close together.

My eyes shot open to stare at the ceiling. I looked around frantically, looking for Bailey. Nobody there but me.

"Cody? Are you in there?" came her voice from outside. Oh of course…it was a dream!

"Oh I just hate myself," I muttered, hauling myself up off the bed and crossing to answer the door, revealing Bailey with that gorgeous smile of hers. I felt a flutter in my chest just upon seeing her. My stress tension was back.

"Bailey, what's up?" I asked.

"I just came by to tell you," she said and for a second I was hoping with all my heart and soul that the next words were going to be 'I love you' "you're going to be late to class. So hurry up."

"Oh, right," I said, feeling like a total fool for thinking Bailey would suddenly appear at my door to confess her non-existent love for me "yeah, I'll be right out." I went back into the room and grabbed my book bag. I picked up my Geography textbook and quickly slammed myself on the head with it. I needed to seriously knock some sense into myself. I stuffed the book into my bag, slung it over my shoulder then headed out the door.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

"Now," said Miss Tutweiller from the front of the class "can anyone tell me what the deepest point on Earth is? London?"

"Nope," London said, more focused on painting her nails than the lesson.

"Okay," Tutweiller conceded "anyone else? Bailey?"

"The deepest point on Earth is the Laurentian Abyss," Bailey said.

"Oh sorry Bailey," said Tutweiller "but that's wrong. Anyone know the correct answer?" I raised my hand.

"Cody?" she said, pointing to me.

"The deepest point on the planet is the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, at a depth of 10,924 metres deep," I said.

"Correct," Tutweiller said "well done Cody." She smiled at me then turned back to the board to explain the details of the Mariana Trench, but with Woody, London and Zack (who was, by this point, asleep) in the class she may as well have been trying to talk Shakespeare to a shop window dummy.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

"Bailey," I said, trying to catch up with her as she left the classroom "Bailey, wait up!" She stopped dead and turned to me as I caught up with her.

"What?" she asked, sounding really angry with me. What had I done wrong?

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"No, just…" Bailey hesitated "don't talk to me Cody!" With that she turned and stormed off down the hall, leaving me there totally confused about what had just happened to annoy her so much. I slumped against the wall, both in frustration and confusion.

"Cheer up buddy," Zack said as he walked past "there'll be more school tomorrow." I did consider chasing after him and hitting him, but thought better of it. Besides it wasn't really Zack I was mad at. It was myself. I'd barely managed to get Bailey out of my head before I'm dreaming about her, and now she's acting crazy as if I'd done something to really annoy her, but I couldn't think of anything I'd done to her that could have gotten that response.

"God I so do not get women!" I yelled at the empty hallway.


	5. Chapter 5

_Day Nine_

"Bailey," I said to her after finding her on the Sun Deck early that morning "come on will you just talk to me." Part of me was wondering what she was doing out here so early; the sun was still rising. It was beautiful really. The sky bleached bright orange and pink, the faint calls of seagulls and the gentle sound of the waves lapping against the side of the ship.

"Come on Bailey," I said, approaching her "just talk to me. Please?" She didn't even turn around to look at me. I couldn't understand what I had done to offend her so badly yesterday.

"Will you at least just tell me what I did wrong?" I asked quietly "Please Bailey? I can't stand you being mad at me." Still no reply. I'm used to women acting strangely due to living with my mom for 15 years, but this was pushing the limits of female irrationality. I decided to take a guess.

"Was it because I answered the question right in class yesterday?" I asked. I doubted it would be, but that was the only theory I could possibly think of.

"Yes," I heard Bailey say quietly. I couldn't believe it. She was this mad about me answering a question right that she got wrong.

"You're mad because I answered a question you got wrong?" I asked, genuinely confused by her.

"Well not just that!" she exclaimed, turning to face me at last.

"Then what is it?" I asked softly "you know you can talk to me."

"It's just that…" Bailey started, but then stopped.

"It's just that what?" I asked.

"I'm used to being the smart one!" Bailey blurted out, catching me well and truly off guard.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I just needed a bit more information to get my head around this.

"Back in Kettlecorn," Bailey explained "I was the smartest person in the town. Then again I guess you can't expect much from a town with a goose as the mayor. I was used to being the smartest person around. Sure it could be burden, with everyone coming to you with problems because they'd heard of your 'fancy book learning', but I liked being respected because of that, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," I said. I was now stood next to Bailey, both of us leaning on the railing, gazing out at the sunset.

"But then I decided to enrol here," Bailey continued "and, I don't know why, but I thought that even in a totally new place, I'd still be the smartest. I had gotten used to being the smartest person around, and I sort of liked it, so…"

"So when I answered the question you got wrong you realised you weren't the smartest any more and you'd become so used to being the smartest person around, so…"

"So I reacted badly," Bailey confirmed "and I'm really sorry by the way. I know it isn't your fault, but I just felt so one-upped, and I guess I took it out on you. That was unfair of me Cody. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it Bailey," I said "I understand."

"No you don't!"

"Not entirely," I admitted "but I'm in sort of a similar situation."

"Really?"

"Yeah," I said "back in Boston I was the smartest kid in any school I went to. I was the clear runner for being my old school's valedictorian by a large gap. I wasn't used to really being challenged academically. The closest I had to a challenge was when Zack was better than me in woodshop. Then I decided to enrol here, to possibly get away from the normal pressures of school. I had the idea that there would be less pressure in this place. But then I met you."

"Me?"

"Yeah," I explained "Like I said, I wasn't used to any academic challengers, except perhaps Barbara. But then I found out about you and how smart you were, and instantly I had a challenger. I thought having a challenge in school would be good, but it's just put more pressure on me to be better, and I was already pretty much full to bursting with pressure, so I just tried my hardest to be better than you. Call it an ego thing."

"I guess we're just two pieces of corn in a cob," Bailey said and I couldn't help but chuckle at how cute that was.

"I guess we are," I said.

"Cody," she said "I really want to be friends with you, so please can you forgive me for acting out yesterday?"

"Of course," I said "I could never stay mad at you anyway."

"Thanks," Bailey said with a smile "and I'll try not to put too much pressure on you by being smart."

"No, that'd be wrong," I said "you're really smart Bailey. And there's no reason why I or anybody else should get in the way of your talent. I'll just find some other way to deal with the pressure. I wouldn't want to stop your education just because of my own selfish reasons."

"Aww thanks Cody," Bailey said "you know, you're a really great guy."

"Thanks," I said, blushing slightly against my own will "you're a great girl."

"Thank you," she said, blushing slightly too "someday you're going to make some girl a great boyfriend." Some girl? I wanted it to be her, not just 'some girl'.

"And I know any guy would be lucky to have you as his girlfriend," I said, desperately wishing that that 'any guy' would be me.

"So, friends?" she asked.

"Okay, friends," I replied, holding out my hand for a handshake. I had thought a hug would be a bit too far. Apparently Bailey didn't think so and quickly pulled me into a tight embrace. A warm happiness filled my whole body as we stood there in each other's arms, but all too soon she pulled away, leaving me sad and disappointed, but I wasn't going to show it and put on a friendly smile.

"You know you're a really nice guy to talk to Cody," Bailey said.

"You too," I said and we shared a genuine smile.

"Come on, let's go get breakfast," she said "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." I laughed a bit and we headed off to get ourselves some breakfast.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

"So what were you guys doing up on the deck alone with morning?" asked London with a sly smirk. My blood ran cold as I looked over at her. When had she been there?

"Nothing," I said, perhaps a little too quickly "I mean, we were just talking."

"And hugging?" London asked, smirking for ear to ear.

"We hugged once," said Bailey "no big deal." It was to me.

"Besides when were you there?" I asked.

"I'm everywhere," London said, trying to sound mysterious "and nowhere."

"Also known as?"

"I was upstairs and saw you hugging down below," London admitted "so what'd you talk about?"

"Nothing much," said Bailey "I just told him about my life back in Kettlecorn."

"Why did you tell _him_ instead of me?" London threw me a dirty look as she asked.

"Because you turn everything I say into fashion advice," Bailey said "and I wasn't in the mood to be told my dress looks like old curtains."

"I understand," said London, then leaned in to whisper to me "that dress does look like curtains."

"I can hear you!" Bailey said.

"So?" asked London "better you hear the truth now. You can thank me later."

"London, do you have any idea how –"

"I'm bored, bye." London declared and just walked off. I could tell Bailey was close to exploding with anger, so I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Bailey," I said "calm down."

"But she's so…so…"

"…so London," I finished "that's just what she does. You'll get used to it in time."

"Hopefully it'll be soon," said Bailey "she's just so annoying."

"I know," I said "I've known her for 3 years. And with London, you know all there is to know about her within a few weeks. She isn't exactly the most complicated person in the world."

"Not complicated?" said Zack as he joined us with a smoothie "she's two marbles in a tin can." Bailey burst out laughing.

"Sorry, that's a horrible thing to laugh at," she said, looking guilty "I'm sorry."

"Don't feel sorry," said Zack.

"But I shouldn't have laughed at her expense," Bailey said.

"Don't worry about it," I said "everyone laughs at her expense."

"Yeah," said Zack "but I need to borrow Cody now."

"Okay," Bailey said "see you later Cody."

"Bye," I said as Zack led me away from her.

"Dude, why aren't you ready yet?" asked Zack.

"Ready for what?" I asked.

"The double date with Sarah and Michelle," Zack said "we've gotta meet them in half an hour!" Oh crap! How could I have forgotten? I had just gotten so into talking with Bailey I'd totally forgotten the date.

"Damn!" I said "I totally forgot. I'll go get ready. Be back soon." I rushed off to my room to get myself ready for the date. I took a quick shower, then got dressed in black skinny jeans, a black T-shirt and a red silk shirt over the top, sprayed on some cologne and headed out the door.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

"So then Tippy knocked Cody over right into it," Zack said loudly, laughing at his own story. Sarah and Michelle both laughed and I had to pretend to find it funny, even though my idea of a good first date isn't having them regaled with tales of how I once got knocked over into a pile of horse crap.

"Do you guys always get into those sort of situations?" asked Michelle. I wanted to tell her that we don't, but that would have just been a lie.

"Yeah, pretty much," I said "to be fair they're mostly Zack's fault, I just get caught up in them."

"Guilty as charged," said Zack.

"You're such a bad boy Zack," said Sarah with a smile.

"You have no idea," Zack said, his smile matching hers. God give me strength! Not only was there no connection between me and Michelle at all because she seemed more interested in Zack, but now I had to put up with Zack laying the flirting on thicker than usual with Sarah. Great, I thought, why can't I just die now?

"Excuse us for a moment ladies," I said. They agreed but Zack protested so I grabbed him and yanked him away from the girls.

"What?" he asked, clearly annoyed. I had no sympathy at all.

"I'm getting out of here," I told him "this is pointless. Michelle's more interested in you than me, so there's no point in me being here."

"Dude you can't just suddenly leave," Zack said.

"I don't care," I said "so far you've embarrassed me about 10 times with stories from the past where I end up getting the short end of the stick, and my date seems to like you more than me."

"So?"

"So," I said "I'm out!" With that I turned and went back to my room. I didn't care about Zack's date, or about what he'd tell the girls about me leaving.

I got back to the room and just tried to get to sleep. I'd not stopped thinking all day. Thinking about Bailey, thinking about me and Bailey, thinking about Zack, thinking about the date. I needed a rest. But it wasn't to be. Not yet anyway. A knock on the door.

"Cody?" asked Bailey from the other side of the door.

"Come in," I said "the door's open." The door swung open and in came Bailey.

"Hey," she said "you're not on your date?"

"No," I said "it wasn't working out. And Michelle liked Zack more than me."

"I find that hard to believe," I heard Bailey mutter.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean," she said "Zack can be charming and all, but at the end of the day he's a typical guy. But you? You're a really nice guy. You're sweet and you're sensitive. Zack may get more girls temporarily, but any girl, when given the choice, would choose you for a proper relationship."

"Thanks Bailey," I said "you always know just what to say."

"It's a gift," she said "but it's late, you must need your sleep. So I'll go now. See you in the morning."

"Bye," I said as she left. My mind was going a mile-a-minute. Bailey had just told me I'd be great for a relationship. That any girl would choose me. And she's a girl. So she might choose me.

And I went to sleep with that thought in my mind.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Author Note - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_Sort of an odd chapter, but mostly just to get some deeper Cody/Bailey interaction going on, as well as another chance for Zack to be Zack. And London to be London._


	6. Chapter 6

_Day 72_

After just over two months onboard the SS. Tipton attending Seven Seas High things had settled down into a normal everyday routine. We'd go to lesson, hang out on the Sun Deck, occasionally get into trouble with Tutweiller and Moseby for "disturbing the other passengers" and then repeat the process. Even Zack had settled down. No more getting into totally balmy situations. Well, he still did, but there were less often, and not as insane. So everything was going well. Bailey and me had become really good friends, bonding a lot over schoolwork and making fun of Zack. I had managed to put my feelings for her into the background. I still really liked her, but I didn't let the feelings get in the way of our friendship any more.

"Hey, you heard the news?" Zack asked as he joined Bailey and me at the juice bar.

"No, what news?" I asked.

"They're throwing a student dance," Zack said, smiling from ear to ear.

"Wow, when?" asked Bailey.

"A few months," Zack said.

"So why tell us now?" I asked.

"I figured you'll need all the time you can get to learn how to dance properly," Zack said and I got the urge to punch him. I'd been getting that urge a lot recently.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically.

"Well I'm looking forward to it already," Bailey said "I used to love the village dances back in Kettlecorn."

"I'm just looking forward to impressing Heather," Zack said with a sly grin. Heather was the girl Zack had been pursuing for several weeks now. He's an idiot because she showed no interest in him whatsoever, but I had to admire his enthusiasm and determination.

"Dude, give it up," I said "she doesn't like you."

"Hey, anything can happen," Zack said "I'm not giving up hope."

"I admire your enthusiasm," I told him "but I think it's a bit misguided this time. She's shown less than no interest in you."

"Oh, here you all are," said Mr. Moseby, appearing on the Sun Deck wearing a bright yellow jacket and plain white shorts.

"Hey Mr. Moseby," I greeted "what's up?"

"Have any of you seen London?" Moseby asked.

"No," said Zack.

"Nope," said Bailey.

"Yeah," I said "I saw her down in the spa about half an hour ago." Not exactly surprising when you know London. Totally obsessed with her appearance and outfits.

"Oh, thank you," said Moseby, hurrying off the deck.

"If I was him I would have checked there first," I said.

"Yeah," Zack agreed "I think the pressure might be getting to Moseby."

"Only just now?" I asked with a smile. He'd always been stressed out.

"What do you mean?" asked Bailey.

"Back at the Tipton," I explained "Mr. Moseby was constantly stressed out."

"Because of you two I'm guessing?" Bailey said.

"Exactly," Zack said.

"Well if he's that stressed out maybe he needs to take some time to himself," Bailey said, "he's always working. It'd be good for him to get some time away."

"Yeah and it'd be good for us too," said Zack "so we could finally have fun without getting in trouble with him."

"Hang onto that dream," I said "Mr. Moseby's first, and only love, is busting us."

"Love…oh, that's it!" Bailey declared "love life! Mr. Moseby needs a girlfriend!"

"No way," Zack said "can you honestly imagine Mr. Moseby with a girlfriend?"

"No," Bailey admitted "I guess not."

"Exactly," I said "but then again a lot of people you wouldn't expect to get girlfriends manage to."

"Yeah, like you with Barbara," Zack said and I glared at him.

"Ooh, who's Barbara?" asked Bailey.

"Cody's girlfriend," said Zack and my glare only got more intense.

"You have a girlfriend Cody?" asked Bailey.

"Of course," I told her "you remember me telling you all about Barbara."

"No, I don't," Bailey said.

"Yes, of course you do," I said, pleading with my eyes for her to play along.

"You never told her about Barbara?" asked Zack "I'm ashamed of you."

"Yeah Cody!" said Bailey "I thought we were friends."

"We are friends," I said desperately "I just…I…"

"You just don't think of me as good enough of a friend to tell me about your girlfriend," Bailey said angrily "you know, I thought you were different from most guys. I thought you were nice. I guess I was wrong."

"Bailey wait," I called after her as she stormed off, then turned to Zack "why did you do that?"

"I got bored and needed a way to bring this up," Zack said, fishing into his pockets before pulling out a note. He handed it to me and I quickly read it.

_Dear Cody,_

_ Good news! I got some time off from my new high school because of safety regulations. And since the SS. Tipton is docking in Boston again in a few days, I thought I'd come and pay you a visit. Looking forward to see you my little __gelibter._

_ With Love, Barbara._

I just gawked at the note. Barbara was coming onboard. I should have been happy at the idea of seeing her, but oddly I wasn't. I loved Barbara, but for some reason all I could think of is 'how can I explain my crush on Bailey to her?'.

This was gonna be a hell of a few days.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Author Note - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_OK so this is a short chapter, just set up to do two things: set things up for Barbara's visit, something which is bound to cause Cody a lot of problems, both in reality and emotionally, so next chapter is gonna be a big one (might take a bit longer to update because of it). And also to give that first little hint of Bailey's feelings for Cody. If you didn't catch it, I intended for her negative reaction about Cody having a girlfriend he didn't tell her about to be a hint of how much she trusts and possibly likes him._


	7. Chapter 7

_Day 75_

I was nervous. Very nervous. The most nervous I could ever have possibly been. Barbara was going to be there in a matter of minutes, and I was practically tearing a hole in the carpet of the ship's lobby with my pacing, trying to figure out a way of telling her about my feelings for Bailey without crushing her.

"Oh hey," I heard Zack say as he showed up next to me "Is Bob here yet? After being stuck here with you I can't wait to have some real guy time." He looked anxiously towards the door, and I would have came up with a witty comeback to that insult if I wasn't so nervous.

"I'd respond to that insult," I told him "but I'm too busy worrying about how I'm gonna break the news to Barbara."

"Right, yeah," Zack said, putting his hands in his pockets "what news?"

"About Bailey and me," I told him "that we're practically a couple." I'd made peace with Bailey after she got angry with me for not telling her about Barbara, and everything was back to normal.

"That's not news," Zack scoffed "that's a fantasy!"

"Point is," I said, choosing to ignore that particular comment "Bob and Barbara are coming to Miami to visit us for spring break and I'm going to have to break Barbara's heart."

"No, you don't," Zack said simply "how do I explain this?" He walked around a bit, looking for some sort of metaphor to explain what he was thinking. Finally he turned to me again.

"Okay," he said "you don't step out of one canoe until you're firmly in another one. Preferably a hotter canoe. Who's parents are out of town a lot." Typical Zack, it all boiled down to looks and make-out opportunities. And I'm pretty sure he meant something else by that "firmly in another one" phrasing, but if so I just wanted to put that out of my mind as much as possible. Zack burst out in a cheeky grin and a slight nod of his head. My god he's such a simple creature.

"Look, even if I were willing to consider that," I told him "there's no way I can hide the heat between Bailey and me." I'd been feeling a bit of heat recently. Whether it was real or in my own messed up imagination was another issue entirely, but that didn't matter to me at that moment. Whether there really was heat or not, I was still incredibly attracted to Bailey, and that was going to be hard to hide.

"You two wouldn't have heat if you were in a sauna," Zack said, bringing up a lovely mental image, which was then shattered as he continued, "that was on fire. In a volcano. On the sun!" He probably could have made do with only one of those extensions, but I got his point.

"Hey guys," said Bailey from behind me and I turned to look at her; My god she looked gorgeous "well I'm off to visit my cousin Cletus's gator farm."

"You're not going to be here this weekend?" I asked. I knew this fitting well into my plan of masking me feelings for Bailey from Barbara until I told her, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed at Bailey leaving.

"Nope, I'll be wrestling gators," she said with a massive smile "by the way. I'm supposed to tell a friend, my blood type is O negative." I didn't even want to think about why I'd need that information.

As Bailey left the room, Zack followed her to the door, still looking at me and gesturing like a madman.

"Dude," he said and I just looked at him with total confusion "you're old girlfriend is coming, you're imaginary one is leaving. You're golden!" I resented the use of the term 'imaginary' but I guess he was right. Bailey as my girlfriend was all in my dreams. Literally. Every damn night. It was getting to be a real pain.

"Whatever," I said and wet over to the door, looking out. I saw her and Bob in the distance; his hair stands out a mile away "aah, here she comes!" I retreated back into the lobby with Zack and composed myself.

"Hi Barbara," I said, opening my arms for a hug.

"Hi Cody," she said lightly as we wrapped our arms round each other. That was when I knew something had changed. When I used to hug Barbara I used to get a happy, warm feeling inside. Now though, I didn't. The only person I got that hug feeling with was Bailey.

"Bob!" I heard Zack shout and as Bob entered the room Zack threw himself at him in a very embarrassing way.

"You look great," said Barbara with that cute smile of hers.

"No, you look great," I said, trying to put as much heart into it as I used to, but I was aware it sounded a bit weak.

"So," I said, guiding Barbara away from Zack and Bob, whose hug had been a bit too long for normality "you're gonna love the boat. It's just like the Tipton but if you walk out the front door you drown." Barbara laughed.

"Still as funny as ever," she told me.

"Yeah," I said, but then the awkward part "so, Barbara…er, look. I really need to talk to you about something."

"What is it Cody?" she asked. Her expression just made this even harder to do.

"Shuffleboard at three," I said. I couldn't do it. Not yet at least, not when she'd only just arrived, it just seemed wrong to ruin her visit.

"Oh, well, I'll go tell Bob," Barbara said and went over to Bob.

"Decided not to tell her huh?" said Zack in an annoying 'I knew I was right' sort of voice "good move."

"No," I said "I just have to find the right time to tell her. I mean she's obviously still in love with me." Zack and me looked over to Barbara and Bob and saw them both move away from each other ridiculously quickly. Bob must have done something gross.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

I was on the Sky Deck, waiting for Barbara and Bob to get here, when I heard the annoyingly chirpy voice of Connie, the ship's Event Coordinator rang out behind me.

"Hey cookie Cody," she chirped, startling me "want to join the spring breakers and play toss the egg?"

"Actually I'm waiting for someone," I said, trying to sound polite as she made a ridiculous mime of tossing an egg.

"Okay," she said "it'll really crack you up." That was the worst pun I'd ever heard, and she apparenty hadn't heard me as with her irritating chipmunk laugh she led me by the arm to a circle of other people, most of them probably roped into playing the game by her too. Thankfully I saw Barbara coming towards me, but my joy at seeing her was shortlived.

"Cody, we need to talk," she said.

"Yeah, we do," I said "about our relationship." It was then I noticed Bob standing right behind me, really close.

"Can I help you?" I asked him.

"No," he said "just wanted to get a better view of the egg tossing. It's gripping!"

"Well, let's face it," I said, turning back to Barbara as Bob departed "when people are away from each other things happen. They grow apart. Become close to new people."

"You know?" asked Barbara.

"Know what?" I said, totally confused now. She'd totally thrown me.

"That Bob and I are dating," she said, putting an arm round Bob's waist.

"You're what?" I asked. I couldn't believe this. I got a surge of jealousy about it. I know I'd planned to break up with Barbara, but knowing that her and Bob were dating now just threw me totally off guard. I mean, Bob? He's a nice guy but I never figured he'd be Barbara's type.

"When did this little love connection happen?" I asked, aware of how angry I sounded.

"Well, you remember the day you left Boston on the ship?" asked Bob.

"Yeah," I said.

"That night," said Barbara. I had to struggle to keep myself calm. I hadn't even been gone one day before she hooked up with Bob!? I thought I knew her better than that. My heart was going a mile-a-minute and anger and jealousy both flowed through my body.

"Look we never meant to hurt you," Bob said as if that made everything better. For the sake of the situation I tried to play it cool. Aloof and casual.

"Pfft. Hurt? Me?" I said, trying to act cool and walked past them, so luckily they couldn't see my face and my expression of total devastation "I'm not hurt. Maybe I'd be hurt if I didn't…already have a girlfriend on the ship." OK, so I panicked. I didn't know what I was thinking saying that, I just needed a way to hide the anger I felt towards Bob and Barbara at that moment, and a way to diffuse the situation without either attacking Bob or breaking down in tears.

"You have a girlfriend?" Barbara asked, sounding annoyed. That was rich! Her being angry at me for having a 'girlfriend' (as far as she knew) when she'd gotten together with Bob the night I left!

"Oh he's not gonna…" I heard Zack say in a pained voice under his breath. I should have dropped the imaginary girlfriend bit there, but I was in it now, I couldn't suddenly say I didn't have a girlfriend or I'd look like a pathetic fool.

"Yeah, her name is Bailey," I said. It was the first name I thought of, and I knew since Bailey was off the ship this was going to work out well. I really should have learnt my lesson by then; nothing ever works out well for me.

"Yup, he's gonna," said Zack quietly.

"You never mentioned any Bailey," said Barbara in an annoyed tone, as if I'd done her some hardship while she was back in Boston getting cosy with Bob!

"Well you never mentioned my 'pal' Bob!" I said, matching her tone. As I approached Bob my anger started to boil over and he must have sensed it because he backed off and Barbara got between us.

"Okay, okay," Barbara said "so I guess we've both moved on."

"Yeah," I said "I _tried _to stay faithful, but Bailey is gorgeous and…she was all over me. I'm a man, I'm weak." As I said that I was just telling myself 'stop talking!' but it didn't work. The bit about me being weak was true at least, and the bit about Bailey being gorgeous. All I could think, aside from 'stop talking', was 'thank god Bailey isn't actually here'.

"Apparently," Barbara said.

"I'd love for you to meet her but unfortunately she's away at her cousin's gator farm," I said. I was aware of Zack tapping me on the shoulder but I ignored him, until it was too late.

"Hey guys," I heard Bailey's voice say from behind me. Any other time in all of history I would have loved to hear that voice, but just not then.

"Bailey," I said, feigning happiness since I was mortified on the inside.

"This just got slightly more funtertaining," said Zack, obviously enjoying my awkward situation. I fought the repeated urge to strike him.

"Bailey," I said again "what are you doing back from the gator farm?" I had to act as if I was happy to see her but I was just wishing I could have either been swallowed up by the ground or I could go back in time to stop myself from opening my big stupid mouth.

"Cousin Cletus drank some swamp water and got oakey-fanokey fever," Bailey explained "so the authorities came and gave all the gators to Lizard World. See you later alligators."

"Wow Cody," said Barbara "she's really…colourful." I could practically hear the disgust in Barbara's voice. I actually hoped it was directed at Bailey, as awful as that is, but no. It was all for me.

"Hi, I'm Bailey," Bailey said happily, greeting Barbara.

"I'm Barbara," Barbara said sternly, giving a Bailey a look that could have melted butter.

"Boy, you guys can sure talk talk talk," I said, desperately searching for any possible way to end this horrific conversation "but I'm sure you want to get back to your room and rest. For like a day or two."

"Hey, why, why don't we all do something later?" asked Bob, being less than helpful.

"Gee, I dunno," I said, trying to avoid any form of confrontation.

"How about movie night?" Bob asked and I really wanted to attack him with something heavy. As we all went over the poster for the movie night I just wanted to die. Anything to get out of this situation.

"Flowers and Chocolate?" asked Zack with disgust in his voice "isn't that that Hugh Grant thing? I'd rather remove my eyebrows with duct tape."

"Yeah and I'm sure Bailey's tired from all that 'wrastlin'," I said.

"No I'm not," Bailey said "and I've been dieing to see Flowers and Chocolate. It's the sequel to Tears in my Handbag." Why was nobody helping me to get out of this situation? God this sucked!

"Great so it's settled," Bob said "we'll all go together."

"Better find some duct tape," Zack said.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

"I'm really looking forward to getting to know your friends from Boston," Bailey said to me as we went down the stairs to the deck for the movie.

It had been a few hours since the horrific events on the Sky Deck, and after a shower, a change and a cry in my room (luckily nobody was around) I'd decided that whatever was going to happen tonight was going to happen.

"Yeah that's a bad idea," I told Bailey "they're easily offended so you probably shouldn't say much." Okay so I'd decided that I couldn't do anything to prevent it earlier, but since then I'd had a change of heart and was going to do anything in my power to prevent this from turning into a disaster.

"Ooh, hey film freaks," chirped Connie, suddenly appearing from nowhere to add extra torture to this evening "it's extra fun in the front."

"No we're just going to –"

"Seriously this is my seat and I've given up enough of my life. Go." Suddenly her chirpy voice was gone and she was actually very intimidating. Me and Bailey quickly got the hell away from her.

"Hey guys," Bailey said to Bob and Barbara as we joined them.

"Hi," Barbara said, clearly still not very fond of Bailey.

"Okay quiet down," I said "the movie's starting." I wasn't exactly very keen on watching this movie, but I figured anything that prevented Bailey and Barbara from talking was a blessing from God since it stopped Barbara from finding out that Bailey isn't my girlfriend.

I ignored Woody acting as London's servant. It didn't interest me at all and I'd probably just ask him about it later. I had my own problems to keep an eye on.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

The film had been going for quite a long time now, and everything had been fine and smooth sailing so far. I dared to risk a look across at Bob and Barbara and Barbara looked back at me so I quickly straightened up to hide from her. Another look over at the 'happy couple' and I saw Bob put his arm around Barbara. Now I'm not normally one for competition. There was that time on Risk It All but the less said about my actions there the better, but I wasn't going to be upstages and left looking a cold fish. As far as they knew Bailey was my girlfriend, so I had to act the part. So very cautiously and with a quick look at Barbara I slowly laid my arm around Bailey's shoulders.

This was ridiculous. Here I was acting like Bailey's boyfriend during a movie, and instead of this being an actual date, I was doing this for the first time just to cover up my own total idiocy. Fantastic.

"What are you doing?" asked Bailey as she noticed my arm around her.

"You have a piece of dandruff on your shoulder," I said, just saying the first excuse that came into my mind. I'd gotten better at lying to people, but some of my excuses were still just pathetic. This was one of the pathetic ones. I made a flicking gesture on her shoulder.

"I got it," I whispered, lifting my arm off her shoulders. I kept it round her, just held in mid-air. I must have looked pathetic but I was determined to cover my tracks until Barbara and Bob left.

"Sshh guys, quiet quiet," Zack said "Neil got Natasha truffles and roses but those are Michelle's favourite." All for of us looked at Zack in total bemusement.

"Well I can't sleep with all the blabbing so I might as well watch," Zack said. It's a good thing he wasn't sleeping. He snores like a buzz saw with bronchitis.

I looked over to Bob and Barbara again and would you believe it? She was feeding him a piece of liquorice. This was getting ridiculous but I had to keep up for the sake of my desperate pathetic charade.

"Bailey," I said "can I have a piece of liquorice?" She got a piece out of the back of it and held it out for me. I tried to bite onto the end of it but it wasn't staying still, so I must have looked like I had some sort of mental disorder and I tried to get the damn thing. Eventually I got hold of it between my teeth, but not before I got a weird look from Bailey.

"Something wrong with your hands?" she asked.

"Uh," I said "my arms fell asleep." I don't know which excuse was more pathetic, that one or the dandruff shoulder. I flailed my arm around a bit to sell the excuse, but that just succeeded in making me look like a total freak of nature. This evening was going from bad to worse, not helped by being swatted with a book by an elderly angry-looking lady on my other side.

"Tell your girlfriend to keep it down," Barbara said across to me and I froze. Oh crap. She called Bailey my girlfriend. If I didn't do something quickly this was all going to explode in my face.

"Yeah," said Zack "I think Neil's about to propose to Michelle."

"Girlfriend?" asked Bailey.

"No no no no no," Zack said "Natasha's the girlfriend. Neil's proposing to Michelle, the other woman!"

"You told her I was your girlfriend?" asked Bailey loudly, standing up from her seat and looking down at me, making me feel like the lowest of the low. I knew this would somehow cause my total disaster, I was just hoping it would happen after Bob and Barbara had left.

"We are not dating," Bailey said to me.

"Are you saying we're over?" I asked, standing up. If I was going down, I was doing it in a believable way. And apparently I was believable as the rest of the crowd all "aaaw"ed. Whether it was at us or the movie I couldn't tell, but it did help sell the moment.

"Over?" Bailey asked, clearly getting more annoyed with me "we never started!"

"So you made all this up just to make me jealous?" asked Barbara, standing up aswell. At least I was convincing enough to make her jealous. That explained her attitude towards Bailey.

"Aha! You were jealous," said Bob, standing up to confront Barbara.

"This is so much better than the movie," said Connie, a mouth full of popcorn. I ignored her.

"Wait, isn't that the maid you just fired?" asked Chelsea, London's friend from the back row.

"I'm not her maid, I'm her roommate," said Bailey angrily.

"Oh, gasp," said Chelsea in her simpering voice "you have a roommate?"

"Yes alright, alright," London said, standing up "I live in a shoebox which I have to share. I'm a regular student and I have no servants."

"Then, who is he?" Chelsea asked, pointing to Woody.

"Just a freak who likes you," London said dismissively.

"I resent that madam," said Woody in a posh English accent "unless you like freaks."

"Ew," exclaimed Chelsea, running off with London following her. I had no idea what was going on with those three, but I was happy to watch because it took the focus off of me and my annoying situation.

"I cannot believe you used me like that," Bailey said angrily. Oh damn, the focus was back on me.

"Yeah," agreed Barbara "and just to make me jealous! Men!"

"They stink," said Bailey "I'm outta here."

"I'm with you sister," Barbara said and the girls both left in a huff.

"You see what you did?" Bob asked angrily.

"Bob!" I heard Barbara yell.

"Coming dear," he said and ran off after her.

"Well Zack," I said sadly "I guess it's just you and me." I turned to see Zack crying at the movie, surrounded by girls. I was annoyed and confused, but couldn't help drawing a weird sense of irony from when this same sort of thing had happened a few years earlier, with me surrounded by girls crying at a movie and Zack with nobody. That irony would normally have cheered me up, but not today. I had just gone through the worst experience in my life. If I wasn't in public I would have cried, but I held it together. At least until I got back to my room.

- - - - - Next Morning - - - - -

"Hey Cody," Bailey said, approaching me on the Sky Deck clutching the teddy bear I had sent her last night after the move night fiasco.

"Hey Bailey," I said "I see you got my sorry bear."

"Yep," Bailey said "thanks. And, by the way, if you'd wanted me to be your pretend girlfriend, all you had to do was ask.

"Really?" I asked. Her willingly pretending to be my girlfriend had to mean she had some sort of feelings for me. Right? It must do.

"Sure," she said "I'd be happy to pretend."

"Oh, pretend," I said "right. Make believe. Fun." I was just trying to make my disappointment. She obviously would have just done it as a favour to a friend.

"See cause if I'd been in on it," Bailey explained "we could have made Barbara really jealous. I could done this." She reached out and tickled my sides. I've always been really ticklish, so while this was fun it was kind of unbearable.

"Stop it," I whimpered as she relented.

"And this," she said, getting behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist, letting her chin rest on my shoulder. Her soft hair tickled my neck slightly, making my whole body break out in goose bumps.

"I would have pretended to like that," I said, desperately trying to keep up with the charade of the 'pretending'.

"And to top it off," Bailey said right in my ear "I could have done this." And she kissed my cheek. I nearly fainted.

"That would have fooled her," Bailey said slyly before walking off. My cheek was still moist and warm and tingling from her kiss. I broke out in a huge smile. Then everything went dark and I felt a whooshing sensation in my ears.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

I opened my eyes to see the ceiling of my room. I looked to my left and Zack was stood leaning on the wall.

"About time you woke up," Zack said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You fainted," he answered.

"Oh," I said "I don't care." My fingers lightly brushed the spot on my cheek where Bailey had kissed me and I broke out into a smile again.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Author Note - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_I know the events of the episode "Flowers and Chocolate" took place over a weekend, but I compressed it down into just over one day for my own convenience_

_I was going to write my own version of these events but I figured the actual episode is the best portrayal of what happened and I couldn't top it, so I just told the episode from poor Cody's point of view. Mostly horrible and awkward for him this time around but with a nice happy moment at the end._

_P.S: Thanks for all the review I've gotten so far on this with positive responses. Really guys, thanks. God knows if I didn't have those reviews I would have lost motivation for this story already. So thank you. So keep em coming, and maybe message me privately with some ideas. I might work some of them in, but no promises. But if there's a specific event you want to see happen in this story just drop me a message, but I won't alter the main plot of this story, as I've already got some major bumps in the road planned and some emotional highs and depressing lows, and none of them are getting altered._


	8. Chapter 8

_Day 97_

"Hey guys," I said to Zack, London and Woody who were all sat around on the Sky Deck "have any of you seen Bailey?" I hadn't seen Bailey all morning, which was unusual. We usually always meet every morning just to talk and hang out, but so far this morning there had been no sign of her and I was getting a bit worried.

"No," said Woody.

"Nope," said Zack.

"Yup, I have!" declared London, looking as if she was expecting to be presented with a prize for her answer.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"In our room," London said "she's still in bed. She was up all night. Kept me awake too."

"Why was she up all night?" I asked.

"I think she's ill," said London "she was sneezing and sniffing all night. Really distracting."

"Why would she be ill?" I asked, getting somewhat annoyed at London.

"I don't know," London said "I only left the window open to get some fresh air."

"No wonder Bailey got ill," I said "it was freezing cold last night. I'm amazed you didn't get sick."

With a tut of annoyance I headed off to Bailey and London's room. Sometimes London can be so selfish. I know she means well, but occasionally her obsession with herself can cause other people a lot of hardship. She's a good person and is always willing to help out a friend, but her spoiled diva nature sometimes betrays that natural kindness.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

"Bailey," I said from outside her room "are you in there?"

"Cody?" I heard her ask from inside. She sounded awful.

"Yeah, it's me," I said "are you alright?"

"No," she said "London made me catch a cold."

"I heard," I said "can I come in?"

"No, you'll get sick too," said Bailey.

"If I do then there's nothing that can be done to avoid it," I said.

"Then I guess you can come in," Bailey said "but I look awful."

"I don't care," I said and quietly slipped into the room. The room was dark. But I could see Bailey in her bed. I moved over to her. She didn't look her best. She was pale, with flushed cheeks and a thin mist of sweat on her forehead. I sat down next to her bed.

"Hey," I said with a smile.

"Hey Cody," Bailey said weakly "why did you come to see me?"

"I couldn't just sit there while I knew you were here sick," I said "so I'm gonna help you get better."

"You're so sweet," said Bailey "but I don't want you to get sick because of me."

"I don't mind getting sick," I told her "but I can't stand knowing you're ill. Is there anything you need?"

"Not really," Bailey said "I'm a little warm though."

"Say no more," I said. I got up from my seat and went to the bathroom, grabbing a flannel and wetting it with cold water. I went back to Bailey.

"Here you go," I said softly, laying the folded flannel across her forehead. She sighed in visible relief, making me smile slightly. She still managed to fill me with happiness even when she's ill.

"That's so nice," she said "thank you Cody."

"Don't mention it," I said "I'm glad to help." I'd taken care of my mom once when she was ill, so I knew how to do it, and I'd gotten ill as a result, so I knew how bad it was, and I was going to everything I could to help Bailey get better. Because I never wanted to see her ill, or even know she was ill. But now I knew I was determined to help her get better.

"Anything else you need?" I asked.

"Not right now," Bailey said "I just need some sleep."

"Okay," I said "I'll see you when you wake up?"

"You'd better," Bailey said with a small giggle "bye Cody."

"Bye," I said. I got up and crossed to the door as Bailey settled back in bed. With a last glance back at her I left the room.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

"Hey Chef Maggie," I said happily, greeting the main chef of the SS. Tipton as I entered the kitchen.

"Good morning Cody," she replied with a beaming smile "you've come to help me with my dishes as always eh?"

"Not today," I said "I just need some chicken soup. A friend of mine is sick."

"Is it that Bailey girl?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"When are you going to tell her how you feel?" Maggie asked. How did she find out?

"How does everybody know about this?" I asked to nobody and Maggie let out a small laugh.

"It is written all over your face Cody," she said "I am amazed Bailey does not see it."

"Me too," I admitted. I'd tried to hide my feelings for her but in my own mind at least, and I guess in everybody else's, I was being so obvious.

- - - - - Later - - - - -

"Bailey?" I didn't know if she was awake, but I had no place to put down the steaming bowl of soup, and her door was open so I slipped quietly inside. She was still asleep, breathing softly. She looked so peaceful, I didn't want to disturb her. I put the bowl of soup down on her beside table and sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at her with a smile. She still had the flannel on her head. I took it off, careful not to wake her.

I don't know how long I sat there just watching her sleep, but it didn't seem like very long, for me at least, because there was nothing I would rather be doing.

I reached down a hand and gently stroked her hair gently. I remembered my mom used to do this to me when I was ill as a kid and I knew how soothing it could be. Again I don't know how long I was there just gently stroking her hair, but I didn't care. I just wanted to comfort Bailey in any way I could, and I wasn't going to rest until she was better.

Because I love her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Author Note - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_I'm sorry this chapter is so lame, but I need stuff to flesh out the space between here and when it really starts to heat up in terms of the storyline. So I apologise for you having to read that._

_Right. I might not be able to update for a few days now, because I'm being dragged to some family get-together thing. Lame! I won't have internet access, but I'll still have my laptop, so whenever I get a spare moment I'll carry on with the next couple of chaptersa nd update this with them all when I get back, so bear with me._

_And I promise, on my mother's eventual grave, this is going to get good soon._


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